The present invention is directed to improved apparatus, method of manufacturing, and method of using a load cell anchor. In particular, the present invention relates to a strain gage load cell anchor capable of measuring an applied force.
Safety harnesses are used in a variety of applications to secure passengers or cargo to various supports, platforms, seats, or assemblies. Vehicles, such as airplanes, boats, or automobiles may use harnesses to hold either persons or objects securely to the vehicle and to protect the persons or objects in the event of a crash. These safety harnesses can be made of one or more individual belts that may be connected to the vehicle by one or more anchors. The anchors may include simple loops in the safety belts or more sophisticated attachment devices, and the anchors may be designed to connect to the vehicle either directly or indirectly via a seat, frame, or body of the vehicle.
Typically, force sensors, such as load cells, are used during the testing of a vehicle to assist with designing and improving the components of the vehicle by measuring the loads on the vehicle and on the passengers. In order to test vehicle safety harnesses, large load cells are attached to a test platform and connected directly or indirectly to the safety belt anchors. The load cells then return the force applied to the load cell by the safety belts and the vehicles during an experimental crash scenario.
Currently, safety harnesses are tested almost exclusively on test beds in a laboratory environment due to the size and weight constraints of current load cells. Many vehicle harnesses are anchored in tight locations with little access or surrounding space. Some safety belts connect to the vehicle via the vehicle seat, which has little room to support a separate load cell. Moreover, typical high-performance vehicles use harnesses with six to nine attachment points, which multiplies the weight and sizing problems of typical load cells when more than one source of data is required. In some instances, current safety harness test systems must elongate and/or reposition the safety belts from their in-use position in order to connect with the load cells. This may cause inaccurate measurements of the forces on the safety belts and safety belt anchors.
Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, many of these identified problems have been solved by developing solutions that are included in embodiments of the present invention, many examples of which are described in detail herein.